I must admit, I have a soft spot for print advertising.
Not the stock-photography shitty stuff you see 99% of the time, but the stuff that is distinctive, crafted and tells a story.
The stuff that is simple rather than simplistic.
The stuff that treats their audience with intelligence, rather than a bunch of retards
The stuff that stands out from everyone else because they’ve appreciated the importance of design, not just shouting.
The stuff that, if truth be told, was the backbone of British advertising.
There’s been a bunch of these ads over the years, but recently, it seems there’s been a lot less.
Maybe that’s because of the way designers and art directors are being trained these days or maybe it’s because of the economic marketing shift towards digital … but it’s probably got a lot more to do with the approach favoured by many marketing departments.
Sell the features, forget the brand.
This could be why one of the last print ads that I really loved was that British secret service execution … but recently I saw one that took me back to the glorious days of print.
Where an image said a thousand words.
And the words simply said enough to make you want to find out more.
And the best bit is it’s for a British company.
Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls … cop a load of this:
I love it.
Sure, you could argue you need to know what Bowers & Wilkins do for it to be truly effective, not to mention understand they have a product that looks like a Zeppelin balloon … but I’d argue you’re being too John Doddsy, and even he couldn’t fail to be impressed by the lack of copy in the ad.
Clean.
Distinctive.
Explains the product benefit without having to spell out the product benefit.
For me, it’s almost a perfect print ad.
One you can’t fail to notice and – more importantly – associate with a particular brand, which is something very, very rare these days despite the fact that’s what all work should try and do.
What with the SONOS logo and this, it seems it’s the sound companies who are leading the way in terms of brand building communication.
[Mind you, if you look at this old SONY ad, you could argue they always were]
So take a bow Bowers & Wilkins and your agency.
This is awesome. Just like your audio systems.